In Flying Down to Rio (1933), Fred Astaire makes his first major film appearance as Fred Ayres, a bandleader who travels to Rio de Janeiro with his dance band. The film stars Dolores del Río and Gene Raymond, but it is Astaire’s dancing with Ginger Rogers, in their first film together, that audiences remembered.
Astaire and Rogers dance the Carioca, a number that steals the film and launched their partnership. Flying Down to Rio showed that Astaire’s stage grace translated to the screen, and it led directly to the series of RKO musicals that made him a star.
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